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THREE local authorities are celebrating after being awarded a grant of more than £1 million to enable them to take recycling in their counties to another level.

The Welsh Assembly Government announced last week that Denbighshire, Conwy and Flintshire are all to receive a generous sum for recycling food and kitchen waste.

The money, announced by the minister for environment, sustainability and housing Jane Davidson, will be used for vehicles and equipment to collect and treat the waste. This waste can then be used to generate electricity and produce compost and biogas, a fuel.

Local authorities across Wales were invited to make joint applications for projects through a grant scheme set-up to support local authority investment in plant and equipment for sustainable waste management.

The Denbighshire, Conwy and Flintshire county councils project has been allocated £1,025,531.

“These substantial grants demonstrate the Government’s commitment to tackling the issue of waste, which is a key element in our efforts to deal with climate change,” said Ms Davidson.

“We also hope these schemes will be another boost to the good work already being done by local authorities in Wales to meet our ambitious targets for recycling and diversion from landfill.”

Figures released earlier this week show local authorities met the all-Wales target for recycling for 2006-07 and are progressing well to meeting the targets for 2009-10.

The minister is meeting leaders of local authorities throughout Wales this week to discuss the future direction of their waste management and how they will meet their new targets.

The money comes from the Regional Capital Access Fund (RCAF), which exists to support the procurement of waste management infrastructure by local authorities.

In total, £14,489,732.20 was awarded from the fund to local authority projects across Wales, running over two years.

Funding for the RCAF was identified in the Sustainable Waste Management Grant (SWMG) letter for 2006-07 sent to all local authorities in July 2006.